ABSTRACT
Narrative is widely held as a fundamental mode of discourse, unquestionably primary in everyday social lives, and central to the organization and sense making of personal and sociocultural experience (Bruner, 1990; also see Georgakopoulou & Goutsos, 1997). It is thus not surprising that pragmatic studies of socialization have consistently privileged the development of narrative mode. Recent work has focused on children’s participation in narrative events occurring within family life, as an ideal point of entry into the interactive, jointly achieved aspects of the socialization process. Work with this emphasis has documented the culture-specificity of family narrative activities; in addition, it has provided valuable methodological tools for establishing links between the microanalysis of storytelling practices and macrolevel, sociocultural stances and norms bearing on children’s socialization (e.g., BlumKulka, 1993, 1997; Blum-Kulka & Snow, 1992; Erickson, 1982; Ochs & Taylor, 1992).
